


The Scrutiny of a Proposal

by sarakirai (platehate)



Series: One-shots for one-shots [4]
Category: Bitter Trap (Takagi Shigeyoshi)
Genre: 2am thoughts on them, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, yes this is fic for a one shot manga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-19 23:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2406836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/platehate/pseuds/sarakirai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yoshito couches his proposal not in terms of love or terms of business, but terms of selfishness. </p><p>Nanao recognises that well, for she’s been selfish too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Scrutiny of a Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> Bitter Trap is one of my favourite one shots, even though the plot can appear rather (okay, fine, extremely) contrived and the art style is not much to speak of. But one shots are neglected little things, really, Koe no Katachi was the only one shot i could find that had fic written about it, and that was after it got extended.
> 
> So here goes.

**xxx**

 

Yoshito couches his proposal not in terms of love or terms of business, but terms of selfishness. Nanao recognises that well, for she’s been selfish too.

 

**xxx**

 

They understand, after all, that this is not _love_. There was no need for a proposal in the first place, because the whole business was carried out by proxy through their parents. Her coming here was an entirely self-centred effort to right a perceived wrong, and satisfy her sense of how cosmic justice ought to work and things should come back to hurt one. She’s said it to herself, too: she just came here to hurt him. And now she’s got what she wanted, it’s his turn.

His turn to be selfish, his turn to think only about himself so he won’t ever be hurt again. As he sits in that living room and tries to ignore the dull ache of betrayal that gnaws at his insides, Yoshito thinks back to Nanao’s words when she first came to the mansion: didn’t she say she hated him? He had thought he hated her too, but now he doesn’t know. It’s complicated, that’s what it is. _(He wants to hurt her back and somehow, simultaneously, show her that she’ll never need another reason to hurt him again.)_ When the trinkets come pelting down from his window, he flings the book he was pretending to read aside and swiftly mounts the stairs. As the Takatsuki heir, he’s used to always thinking about the family – but right now Yoshito only thinks of himself. Nanao has managed to make him _feel_ something other than general dismissive scorn for the human populace for the first time in ages, and that’s the reason why he’s going to keep her. He’ll make her stay; she’ll be good for him. They’ll be good for each other.

Yoshito takes a fortifying breath and pushes the double doors open. Nanao’s perched on the sill wearing only his bed sheet, and he finds he can’t move. The breeze ruffles their hair gently.

Nanao knows pulling this stunt is silly, almost a low blow. Wearing nothing but a sheet, making to jump out of a second-storey window? Who is she kidding? She sends a silent apology to Yoshito. They both know she’s totally betting on him to cross the room in three quick strides, yank her back, hold her close. They both know that he will bite. The “take care” that escapes her lips is a cruel mockery of the realities of their situation.

See, now that they’ve both got what they wanted, and feel so guilty for hurting each other in a selfish pique; they’re going to punish themselves with self-sacrifice and self-denial (but maybe not for the rest of their lives – how about just the honeymoon?). They’ve become selfless partners in this scheme.

 

**_“…I won’t let you do that._ **

**_I’m going to wrap you around my little finger, too, until I’m satisfied,_ **

**_So stay here.”_ **

 

It’s nice of him, really, Nanao thinks, his asking her to marry him in such a roundabout way, in the only way he knows how to relate to another human being – as if she weren’t already tied to him by so many other things, like marriage certificates and parental desperation and social conventions that dictate she can do no better than accept him.

 

**xxx**

 

Still, judging from the slow flush that stains his cheek or the single tear that wells up when they lock eyes, this marriage won’t necessarily be a bad thing. It is only that the love and happiness will come later, they suppose. For now, clinging to each other through the sheet is good enough – feeling warm and secure and solid in their place and never wanting to let go. Nails dig painfully into backs, limbs tangle, and chests are pressed flush against each other. _They aren’t moving, not for anything in the world_ (though it’s more for their own sake and less for that of each other).  Yoshito and Nanao will stay unlovingly selfish together, until some such time where they can learn to transcend that.

Together.

 

**xxx**

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading - now go spread the one shot love.
> 
> xoxo


End file.
